Some Quick Tips on Using Pagemaker

The following are some tips on using Pagemaker that are too short to dedicate an entire page to so I've included them all here in no particular order.

If clicking selects the wrong object then you probably have several objects overlapping. Hold down the command key (mac) or ctrl key (windows) and click again in the same spot to select the object immediately behind the currently selected object.

To move to the next page (or pair of pages) using the keyboard hold down the command key and press tab (on the mac) or press F12 (in windows). To move to the previous page (or pair of pages) hold down command and shift and press tab (on the mac) or press F11 (in windows).

To change the page view zoom setting on all pages at once instead of just for the current page spread hold down the option key (on the mac) or the alt key (in windows) while making the change.

To avoid the problem of grabbing the guides instead of the objects on your page go into the preferences and on the guides page select to send margins, ruler guides, and column guides to back instead of front.

To move multiple items between pages move them all to the pasteboard then move to the new page and move them all to their new locations. Objects on the pasteboard are accessible on all pages.

To select multiple objects that are all together drag a box around them. To select multiple objects that are not all together hold down the shift key and click on each in turn.

Using select all from the edit menu or the corresponding keyboard shortcut (command-A or ctrl-A) will select not only everything on the current page spread but also everything on the pasteboard.

To proportionally resize a graphic hold down the shift key while dragging on one of the resize handles.

To select an entire paragraph of text (including the end of paragraph mark) triple click anywhere within the paragraph.

If you hold down the command or ctrl key when using the nudge buttons in the control palette, the value will change by an amount ten times as big as if you don't hold down that key.

To activate or deactivate the control palette from the keyboard hold down the command or ctrl key and press the grave accent key (usually found directly above the tab key).

To move the page around without using the scrollbars hold down the option key (mac) or alt key (windows) and drag the page with the mouse.

Don't forget to Save often while working on a document. When you are done use Save As specifying the same filename to make the resultant file smaller. (Save stores the changes to the end of the existing file rather than replacing the entire file contents.)